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Elvis Presley ~ Quotes

1. I don’t know anything about music. In my line you don’t have to.

2. Ambition is a dream with a V8 engine.

3. Adversity is sometimes hard upon a man; but for one man who can stand prosperity, there are a hundred that will stand adversity.

4. Every time I think that I’m getting old, and gradually going to the grave, something else happens.

5. I have no use for bodyguards, but I have very specific use for two highly trained certified public accountants.

6. From the time I was a kid, I always knew something was going to happen to me. Didn’t know exactly what.

7. I was training to be an electrician. I suppose I got wired the wrong way round somewhere along the line.

8. Rhythm is something you either have or don’t have, but when you have it, you have it all over.

9. Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain’t goin’ away.

10. Rock and roll music, if you like it, if you feel it, you can’t help but move to it. That’s what happens to me. I can’t help it.

11. I hope I didn’t bore you too much with my life story.

12. The Lord can give, and the Lord can take away. I might be herding sheep next year.

13. I never expected to be anybody important.

14. Whatever I will become will be what God has chosen for me.

15. After a hard day of basic training, you could eat a rattlesnake.

16. There are too many people that depend on me. I’m too obligated. I’m in too far to get out.

17. I’m not trying to be sexy. It’s just my way of expressing myself when I move around.

18. I’m strictly for Stevenson. I don’t dig the intellectual bit, but I’m telling you, man, he knows the most.

19. Until we meet again, may God bless you as he has blessed me.

20. I learned how important it is to entertain people and give them a reason to come and watch you play.

21. I don’t do any vulgar movements.

22. The image is one thing and the human being is another. It’s very hard to live up to an image, put it that way.

23. A live concert to me is exciting because of all the electricity that is generated in the crowd and on stage. It’s my favorite part of the business, live concerts.

24. When I was a boy, I always saw myself as a hero in comic books and in movies. I grew up believing this dream.

25. Later on they send me to Hollywood. To make movies. It was all new to me. I was only 21 years old.

26. It’s human nature to gripe, but I’m going ahead and doing the best I can.

27. I like entertaining people. I really miss it.

28. I’ve never written a song in my life. It’s all a big hoax.

29. I was an overnight sensation.

30. Man, I really like Vegas.

31. I think I have something tonight that’s not quite correct for evening wear: Blue suede shoes.

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Blue Suede Shoes 1956

32. I’ve been getting some bad publicity – but you got to expect that.

33. I’m so nervous. I’ve always been nervous, ever since I was a kid.

34. People ask me where I got my singing style. I didn’t copy my style from anybody.

35. When I got outta High School I was driving a truck. I was just a poor boy from Memphis, Tennessee.

36. Man, that record came out and was real big in Memphis. They started playing it, and it got real big. Don’t know why-the lyrics had no meaning.

37. They put me on television. And the whole thing broke loose. It was wild, I tell ya for sure.

38. I did the Ed Sullivan show four times. I did the Steve Allen show. I did the Jackie Gleason show.

39. The next thing I knew, I was out of the service and making movies again. My first picture was called, GI Blues. I thought I was still in the army.

40. I sure lost my musical direction in Hollywood. My songs were the same conveyor belt mass production, just like most of my movies were.

41. Those movies sure got me into a rut.

42. I’ll stay in Memphis.

43. Too much TV hurts movies.

44. When I get married, it’ll be no secret.

45. The army teaches boys to think like men.

46. I’ve tried to lead a straight, clean life, not set any kind of a bad example.

47. I happened to come along in the music business when there was no trend.

48. I was an only child, and Mother was always right with me all my life. I used to get very angry at her when I was growing up – it’s a natural thing.

49. I miss my singing career very much.

50. The closest I ever came to getting married was just before I started singing. In fact, my first record saved my neck.

51. I’ll never feel comfortable taking a strong drink, and I’ll never feel easy smoking a cigarette. I just don’t think those things are right for me.

52. That’s why I hate to get started in these jam sessions. I’m always the last one to leave.

53. I’m no hillbilly singer.

54. I’m trying to keep a level head. You have to be careful out in the world. It’s so easy to get turned.

55. Those people in New York are not gonna change me none.

56. More than anything else, I want the folks back at home to think right of me.

57. Just because I managed to do a little something, I don’t want anyone back home to think I got the big head.

58. Since the beginning, it was just the same. The only difference, the crowds are bigger now.

59. My movements, ma’am, are all leg movements. I don’t do nothing with my body.

60. I like to sing ballads the way Eddie Fisher does and the way Perry Como does. But the way I’m singing now is what makes the money.

61. The colored folks been singing it and playing it just like I’m doin’ now, man, for more years than I know. I got it from them.

62. I’d just like to be treated like a regular customer.

63. I don’t think I’m bad for people. If I did think I was bad for people, I would go back to driving a truck, and I really mean this.

64. I’ll never make it, it will never happen, because they’re never going to hear me ’cause they’re screaming all the time.

65. I knew by heart all the dialogue of James Dean‘s films; I could watch “Rebel Without a Cause” a hundred times over.

66. When things go wrong don’t go with them.

67. I believe in the Bible. I believe that all good things come from God. I don’t believe I’d sing the way I do if God hadn’t wanted me to.

68. Some people tap their feet, some people snap their fingers, and some people sway back and forth. I just sorta do’em all together, I guess.

69. I ain’t no saint, but I have tried never to do anything that would hurt my family or offend God. I figure all any kid needs is hope and the feeling he or she belongs.

70. The first time that I appeared on stage, it scared me to death. I really didn’t know what all the yelling was about. I didn’t realize that my body was moving. It’s a natural thing to me. So to the manager backstage I said: “What’d I do? What’d I do?”

71. I learned very early in life that: “Without a song, the day would never end; without a friend, a man ain’t got a friend; without a song, the road would never bend- without a song” So I keep singing a song.

72. Singers come and go, but if you’re a good actor, you can last a long time.

73. I don’t want to read about some of these actresses who are around today. They sound like my niece in Scarsdale. I love my niece in Scarsdale, but I won’t buy tickets to see her act.

74.

75.

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Photo’s of Elvis Presley in the 1960’s

BIOGRAPHY

Elvis Aaron Presley was born to Vernon and Gladys Presley in a two-room house in Tupelo, Mississippi, on January 8, 1935. His twin brother, Jessie Garon, was stillborn, leaving Elvis to grow up as an only child. He and his parents moved to Memphis, Tennessee, in 1948, and Elvis graduated from Humes High School there in 1953.

Elvis’ musical influences were the pop and country music of the time, the gospel music he heard in church and at the all-night gospel sings he frequently attended, and the black R&B he absorbed on historic Beale Street as a Memphis teenager.

In 1954, Elvis began his singing career with the legendary Sun Records label in Memphis. In late 1955, his recording contract was sold to RCA Victor. By 1956, he was an international sensation. With a sound and style that uniquely combined his diverse musical influences and blurred and challenged the social and racial barriers of the time, he ushered in a whole new era of American music and popular culture.

He starred in 33 successful films, made history with his television appearances and specials, and knew great acclaim through his many, often record-breaking, live concert performances on tour and in Las Vegas. Globally, he has sold over one billion records, more than any other artist. His American sales have earned him gold, platinum or multi-platinum awards. Among his many awards and accolades were 14 Grammy nominations (3 wins) from the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award which he received at age 36, and his being named One of the Ten Outstanding Young Men of the Nation for 1970 by the United States Jaycees. Without any of the special privileges, his celebrity status might have afforded him, he honorably served his country in the U.S. Army.

His talent, good looks, sensuality, charisma, and good humor endeared him to millions, as did the humility and human kindness he demonstrated throughout his life. Known the world over by his first name, he is regarded as one of the most important figures of twentieth century popular culture. Elvis died at his Memphis home, Graceland, on August 16, 1977.

For a fun, interactive walk through Elvis’ life, visit the 75 years of Elvis Timeline developed in celebration of Elvis’ 75th Birthday Celebration.